"Relentless" Red Sox sticking with approach

BOSTON -- Even after run after run had crossed the plate in the fourth inning Friday, Jacoby Ellsbury sprinted to first base when the fastball that would have had him struck out ticked off the glove of Tampa Bay catcher Jose Lobaton.

BOSTON -- Even after run after run had crossed the plate in the fourth inning Friday, Jacoby Ellsbury sprinted to first base when the fastball that would have had him struck out ticked off the glove of Tampa Bay catcher Jose Lobaton. Even with a six-run lead in the eighth inning, Ellsbury stole second base -- and then Shane Victorino followed right behind him, taking off for second base and advancing to third on a Dustin Pedroia single, a beautifully executed hit-and-run that wasn't actually a hit-and-run.

And even with the Red Sox already having scored a pair of runs in the third inning on Saturday, Victorino bulldozed Ben Zobrist as the Tampa Bay second baseman tried to turn a double play -- a play that paid dividends an inning later when a rattled Zobrist threw the ball into the Red Sox dugout.

"We capitalize on one mistake and were able to score multiple runs," Victorino said. "It's something we've done all year long. That's what our team is."

Like a runaway train, this Red Sox team isn't about to slow down once it's gotten going.

"The one word that we've continually tried to drive home is the word 'relentless,'" Boston manager John Farrell said. "It's that overall relentlessness that I think has become a trait for this group."

"We've got a lot of hungry guys," David Ortiz said. "That's all that matters."

There are different ways to characterize the relentlessness of the Red Sox.

When Ben Cherington and his staff set about finding the complementary players who would best fit the core he already had in place, one of their primary focuses was on hitters who would work counts and swing at strikes.

"When we were really good in '07, '08, '09, we led the league or were near the top of the league in on-base percentage and seeing pitches," assistant general manager Mike Hazen said. "That was a characteristic we wanted to go find. From a strategy standpoint, we identified those types of players, andt hose were guys we wanted to go after."

No team in the major leagues saw more pitches than the Red Sox did. No player in the major leagues saw more pitches per plate appearance than Mike Napoli did, and Stephen Drew and Daniel Nava both ranked among the top two dozen in that category. Six Red Sox hitters saw more than four pitches per plate appearances.

And then when they needed to abandon that approach against strike-throwing lefty David Price on Saturday, that's what they did.

"This is a team that can be patient," Jonny Gomes said. "This is a team that can let it go first two, first three pitches of the at-bat."

The relentlessness also applies to the way the team runs the bases. Including the first two games of the American League Division Series, the Red Sox have stolen 42 straight bases without being caught dating back to early August. Only Tampa Bay and Cincinnati took extra bases on fly balls, wild pitches and the like than the Red Sox did. Only a handful of players took more extra bases in those situations than Daniel Nava did. Only St. Louis scored from second on a single more often than the Red Sox did.

John Farrell promised aggressiveness on the basepaths when he was hired a year ago. He delivered on that promise. Not all of the Red Sox have wheels like Ellsbury has, but more than not have instincts to make up for it -- like Gomes, who scored from second on an infield single on Friday just like he had at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day.

Asked twice after the game Friday if he was miffed in any way by the eighth-inning stolen base in an 8-2, Maddon declined to say that he was. It shouldn't have been a surprise. An 8-2 game bears isn't too far off from a 7-0 game, and the last playoff game Tampa Bay played at Fenway Park before Friday was the game in which the Red Sox rallied from a 7-0 deficit in the seventh inning.

Farrell deflected any suggestion that the Red Sox had done anything wrong, pointing to the fact that Rays first baseman James Loney had been holding Ellsbury and Victorino on at first base before they took off. He also made clear his team isn't about to make any changes from what it does so well in the regular season.

"We're not going to run from our strengths," Farrell said.

Especially when one of those strengths is the way they run. They'll take that with them to Tropicana Field with a chance to close out a three-game sweep.

"We're running the bases great, and that plays at home and on the road," Gomes said. "When you run bases like that, it's not really home-field advantage. It just says a lot about our character as a team."